Vemireddy family breaks silence, rebuts YSRCP charges in Nellore

The Vemireddy family has gone on the offensive against the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) after a long period of restraint in the face of a series of allegations levelled by the opposition.

While Nellore MP Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, who has been the primary target of the opposition's criticism, has stayed silent, his wife and Kovur MLA Vemireddy Prashanthi Reddy has stepped forward to counter the charges.

The YSRCP's allegations centred largely on the alleged involvement of Mr. Prabhakar Reddy in a quartz mining syndicate. Ms. Prashanthi Reddy dismissed the accusations as baseless and wild.

Speaking to the media, she said her husband, a prominent businessman, had secured contracts worth ₹50,000 crore and therefore had no reason to engage in unlawful activity. She noted that he had explored quartz mining in Nellore in 2024 with the aim of generating local employment, but abandoned the project to avoid the political controversy that was building around it.

Ms. Prashanthi Reddy directed much of her criticism at P. Anil Kumar Yadav and Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy, both former ministers who are seeking to re-establish themselves in Nellore's political landscape after losing the 2024 general elections.

Her response was reinforced by other leaders, including TDP Nellore district president and MLC Beeda Ravichandra, Nellore Rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy and former Deputy Mayor P. Roop Kumar Yadav, who held press conferences to push back against the YSRCP leaders.

The coordinated counter-offensive is seen as the family responding after giving the opposition a long rope, and it has helped curb the negative publicity that the TDP-led NDA Alliance government in the district had faced for a week.